SANTIAGO, Chile — Gabriel Boric, a tattooed 35-year-old former student leader from the far south of Patagonia, has secured a crushing victory to become Chile’s president-elect.
Boric narrowly lost the first round of the vote in November to far-right populist José Antonio Kast but managed to reverse his opponent’s advantage to take 56 percent of the vote in the runoff, compared with Kast’s 44 percent.
“Thank you to all of the peoples that live in this place we call Chile,” Boric said on a giant stage erected in the center of the capital, Santiago, to rapturous applause.
“The future of Chile needs [all of the candidates] on the people’s side,” he said, thanking each presidential hopeful in turn, including Kast.
Kast called Boric on Sunday to concede defeat and congratulate him on his win. He also met with the president-elect Sunday evening at a hotel in Santiago.